Write Fantastic Fantasy This Summer

Through discussion and writing exercises we will explore and begin to write a fantasy story.

In the first two sessions we will discuss world creation. Discussion will include rules for the world, rules of time, space and magic, as well as history, language, geography and customs of the invented world.

 In Sessions Three and Four we will discuss story construction in relation to characters: who should the p.o.v. character be and are they the same as the main character and the characters motivation. We will continue our discussion of the challenges the characters will face and who the antagonist is and what is their beef against the protagonist.

 In Sessions Five and Six we will further discuss creating conflict in the story from the inciting incident to the climax and falling action.

In Session Seven and Eight we will explore the  challenges the protagonist will face as well as taking a closer look at the antagonist. We will discuss rising action and increasing the tension for the characters.

In Sessions Eight and Nine we will go back to the beginning and look at how to capture the reader and make them fall in love with the characters  and how to structure chapters and stories to keep the reader's reading.

In Session Ten We will  discuss ending the book and the final resolution of the characters story.

In Session Eleven we will discuss writing spellbinding chapters including discussion of chapter beginnings and endings, active plots, backstory and descriptions.

In Session Twelve we will discuss Show-vs-Tell, use of strong verbs instead of adverbs. We will take a look at incorporating description when describing characters, setting and action.  We will also explore ways to keep the story from getting bogged down and boring the reader. We will also review the things we covered and see if the students have any remaining questions before writing their story.

We will use discussion and sharing of the character's homework. I will give suggestions on improving the topics we have discussed as well as commenting on what they have done well. I encourage discussion and input from the students and will encourage them to read the things they have written. We will look at other fantasy authors to see how they incorporated the ideas in their writing.